Shattering the Stronghold Gate
The golems lay shattered in pieces. They had made for the perfect targets to display overwhelming force.
“They’re all hanging on your every word.”
“Childish, but effective.”
“Yet you choose not to consume their essences?”
Nyx gestured toward the scattered fragments of the fallen golems.
“These things are inanimate.”
Even inanimate objects could harbor essences. Gaia’s essence that he had devoured before, or the likes of Uturi, were proof of that. However, mass-produced golems from a factory lacked the necessary “dignity” to possess anything worthwhile.
Wait a second.
‘Didn’t Predator say the range of Devour would expand after the class change?’
Nothing to lose by trying. He placed his hand on the broken remains of a golem and activated Devour.
Devoured the essence of Combat Golem - Type E.
Essence Grade: Common
Essence Devoured: 2.7%
It actually worked?!
He clamped a hand over his mouth. Otherwise, a scream might have escaped his throat.
This was an effect he had never seen when he changed classes to Scavenger before the regression.
“Goddess.”
When he called out in a low voice, Nyx looked flustered.
“Has something gone wrong?”
“This is huge.”
Nyx alternated her gaze between the pulverized golem core and Jinho, then declared with hands on her hips,
“Ahem. Behold, this is the power of my insight!”
Fifty golems had been destroyed. More than enough to fill the essence quota.
“All the mana stones here are mine?”
When he pointed at the golem fragments, everyone nodded with dazed expressions.
He hadn’t expected showing off his power to the team members to pay off like this.
“Then, I’ll help myself.”
With a smile on his lips, he began devouring the golem fragments.
The moment he devoured the thirty-fifth one—
Essence Devoured: 100%
Strength + 2
Endurance + 3
Skill - Stone Skin has been added.
Stone Skin
Grade: ★
Classification: Active
Hardens the user’s skin like stone.
Agility decreases by 20% while active.
Consumes a small amount of mana.
A skill extracted from the essence of a Combat Golem had been added.
He had hoped for synergy with Carapace, but the two skills were incompatible.
Spiked Carapace created a hard outer shell over the skin, whereas Stone Skin seemed to harden the skin itself.
‘This works even better.’
It meant he could stack Spiked Carapace and Stone Skin. Even if the carapace shattered from excessive damage, Stone Skin could still mitigate the blow.
That said…
Even after absorbing the essence, plenty of golem fragments remained. The only thing worth salvaging from the golem remains was the mana core… but it was difficult to extract with the by-product collection kit, and it held little value outside the Tower.
They used to be quite expensive in the early days of the Tower.
“Mors.”
“I have been awaiting your summons, Lord Jinho.”
When the gnome merchant Mors tore through space and appeared, the players stared in shock.
“Merchants appearing on the sixth floor are supposed to be random.”
“No, more importantly, that player just summoned a merchant?”
“Isn’t that the exclusive merchant we’ve only heard rumors about?”
“Why would a player challenging a sixth-floor mission have an exclusive merchant?!”
Some of the players realized it was Jinho who had summoned Mors and looked at him with stunned expressions.
“Lord Yu Jinho, what merchandise are you seeking this time?”
“Dig out the mana cores from those golem remains over there.”
“Fifteen of them won’t even cover labor costs, sir.”
“Impatient as always. I’ll make sure you get plenty of work soon enough.”
“Aigoo, I only trust Lord Jinho.”
Mors rubbed his hands together exaggeratedly and quickly began separating the cores from the golem remains. His dexterity was truly impressive.
Around the time the mana core extraction was nearing completion, the players who had formed teams finished their battle preparations.
“I’ll explain the operation from now on.”
A moment later, the expressions of the player group turned to shock.
* * *
His plan was simple.
Use Demonic Power to convert all stats into Magic Power, then pour out maximum firepower to destroy the fortress gate.
“Can we really break the gate without a battering ram?”
“As long as the magic is powerful enough.”
There was no need to necessarily use a battering ram to break the fortress gate. If they could unleash magic powerful enough to destroy a gate protected by defensive magic, that would suffice.
“Just hold off the golems when they come out to interfere with me.”
“Understood…”
The team members nodded with reluctant expressions.
The distance to the gate was about fifty meters—barely outside the attack range of the golems standing on the walls.
Demonic Power has been activated.
All of the user’s stats have been converted into Magic Power.
This still wasn’t enough.
“Goddess.”
“I have been waiting.”
When Nyx placed her hand on his crown, the Blessing of the Night settled over his body. A buff that increased all stats by 40%. Thanks to Demonic Power, only Magic Power benefited, but that was more than sufficient.
He rearranged the several-fold amplified magic power.
“Earth Spike.”
With the activation word, the ground split in half. Massive boulders surged upward through the cracks.
The team members panicked at the sight.
“An Eruption on the sixth floor?!”
“That’s a fairly high-level earth magic.”
“No, the activation word was Earth Spike.”
“How does that look like Earth Spike to you?”
The cluster of boulders erupting from the ground slammed into the fortress gate.
BOOM! The gate dented deeply wherever Earth Spike struck. It looked ready to collapse at any moment.
Repair
The entire gate glowed green. A strange sound came from the deeply gouged sections as they slowly began to mend.
“As expected, one time isn’t enough.”
He hadn’t expected Earth Spike alone to open the gate. Immediately, he deployed Fireball and hurled it at the gate undergoing repairs.
At that moment, the previously closed gate swung open, and golems began pouring out.
The golem horde intercepted the incoming Fireball with their bodies. Golem fragments lay buried beneath the acrid smoke. Thanks to the golems sacrificing themselves, not even a single scorch mark appeared on the gate.
“They really won’t let us through easily.”
“You seem remarkably calm.”
“Well, it’s not like I didn’t expect this.”
Golems kept streaming out through the open gate. Since the distance wasn’t far, they quickly reached Jinho’s position.
“Damn it. We’re trusting your word here, so you’d better take responsibility.”
“Without a supporter, there was never any chance anyway.”
“Please, just destroy the gate already!”
The team members stepped forward to block the golems’ advance.
Jinho let out a short sigh and prepared his next spell.
‘Earth Spike won’t work.’
Combat golems kept pouring out of the gate. Using Earth Spike again would obviously waste most of its power getting blocked by the golems.
The same went for Fireball.
The choice had been decided from the beginning.
Energy Bolt has been activated.
Magic power has been charged to maximum capacity.
An overcharged Energy Bolt tore through the air. One or two golems leaped to intercept the magic projectile, but they collapsed with large holes punched through their chests.
Unlike Fireball, Energy Bolt flew in a straight line to its target even if it collided midway.
The moment it struck the gate that was still closed and under repair—
BANG! The gate shattered into pieces, unable to withstand the impact that exceeded its limits.
“The fortress gate has been destroyed!”
“He actually broke it without a battering ram.”
“Charge! We have to get through before they repair the gate!”
The team members pushed forward against the combat golems, veins bulging on their necks.
Jinho couldn’t just stand still either. He rearranged his magic power once more and unleashed Earth Spike.
RUMBLE!
The combat golems charging in formation were destroyed in droves.
Wow, having the tanks take the lead really let him focus purely on firepower.
While he was unleashing magic from the rear of the formation—
Demonic Power’s duration has ended.
All stats have returned to their original values.
Vitality surged through his entire body. It was the aftereffect(?) of all stats returning to normal.
“I was hoping to coast for a bit, but what a shame.”
“Tsk, the rear doesn’t suit you at all.”
“You’re right about that.”
Agreeing with Nyx, he charged into the battlefield. Even though he had already devoured all the essences of Combat Golem Type E, he could still gain experience points. His class demanded quite a lot of experience, so he couldn’t afford to yield any.
CLANG!
His extended claws, enhanced by the Blessing of Greed, effortlessly destroyed golems as he advanced.
「Reinforce the gate.」
「Enemies continue to invade.」
「Eliminate them.」
The golems tried to stop him from penetrating deeper into the fortress.
“Who exactly do you think you’re stopping?”
His claws imbued with inner energy. When Blood Tiger Storm swept through the air, several golems caught in its trajectory were instantly shredded.
“I need to set a new record, so let’s wrap this up quickly.”
「Mission impossible.」
「Function terminated.」
Despite the golems’ desperate resistance, he entered the fortress far too easily. He scanned the interior, turning his eyes left and right.
“Found it.”
The golem factory inside the fortress. Destroying that would clear the mission. No need to waste any more time.
He kicked off the ground once more.
* * *
Thick smoke rose over the mountain. It was the aftermath of destroying the golem factory.
Main Mission - Fortress Siege has been cleared.
Clear Time: 56 minutes 21 seconds.
Global Team (231) has broken the shortest clear time record for Floor 6.
All members of Global Team (231) have received a Merchant Guild Free Pass.
◈ A contract that summons a merchant affiliated with the Midron Merchant Alliance.
◈ Allows one free purchase of any item available in the current mission.
Free purchase of mission-related items, huh.
“You look disappointed.”
“Well, yeah.”
Since he already had an exclusive merchant, he could summon Mors whenever he wanted. Being able to summon a merchant at a desired timing held little value for him. He could consider it as gaining one insurance policy to eliminate variables during a mission.
“Thank you, Lord Yu Jinho.”
“Thanks to you, we’ve made it onto the Hall of Fame.”
“We will never forget this debt.”
All the team members bowed at the waist.
Of course. The Merchant Guild Free Pass meant nothing to him, but it was different for them. Even in this mission, no merchant had appeared.
“Come one, come all! Pickaxes that can mine rare metal for just 100 CP!”
If he hadn’t summoned Mors for them, they wouldn’t have earned any extra income.
“What are they doing?”
“There’s a rare metal mine above the fortress. They’re mining there.”
Rare metal. A mineral with superior durability and elasticity compared to iron mined on Earth. The reason players repeatedly challenged the sixth floor was because of that rare metal.
“Why don’t you mine some yourself?”
“It’s a waste of time.”
Mining rare metal from the mine was a matter of probability. Swinging the pickaxe a set number of times would yield minerals, but rare metal wasn’t guaranteed.
“I’d rather spend that time training.”
“Hehe, as expected of my contractor.”
Martial arts. The power of Polar Night. All abilities obtained through Devour had 100% proficiency, but those two did not. Especially Polar Night—he had invested stats into it every time he leveled up, yet the power he could wield was still minimal.
“If I can properly control Polar Night, it’ll be incredible.”
“My power will never disappoint you!”
“That’s why I need to go train.”
He terminated his connection to the Tower of Babel.